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 As the clock ticked toward a midnight Friday deadline for funding
the Department of Homeland Security, lawmakers said a stop-gap
extension would buy time to try to work out differences between the
Republican-controlled House and the Senate.
But as this approach gained favor late on Thursday, Homeland
Security Secretary Jeh Johnson sent a letter to congressional
leaders in which he urged them to approve of a "clean," full-year
funding measure for the agency.
A temporary patch would mean more uncertainty for department
employees "and puts us back in the same position, on the brink of a
shutdown just days from now,” he said in the letter, which was
distributed by email by Democratic House leadership.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, who has insisted on a full
Homeland Security funding bill free of immigration reform
restrictions that have caused weeks of delay, said on Thursday he
would refuse to allow such negotiations with the House.
"It won't happen," Reid told a news conference.
 It was also unclear if House Speaker John Boehner, facing
disagreement among Republican factions, had the votes to win House
passage of even a short-term extension. House Democratic leaders
were urging their members to reject it, a party aide said.
"I think we're going to get there," Representative Blake Farenthold
of Texas said of the stop-gap plan after a nearly two-hour meeting
of House Republicans on Thursday evening.
He said House leaders would spend Thursday night counting votes and
building support for the short-term extension.
Conservatives have demanded that Boehner stand firmly behind a
House-passed $39.7 billion bill that would pay for Homeland Security
operations, but that would also block funding for Democratic
President Barack Obama's recent executive orders lifting the threat
of deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants.
"It’s an effort to punt, like Republicans like to do," said
Representative Raul Labrador, a conservative from Idaho, adding that
he could not support the plan.
But some other, more moderate Republicans also said they were not
happy with the idea of a temporary funding fix at last year's
funding level.
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Republican efforts in the House and Senate to stop Obama's
immigration orders were likely to be voted upon on Friday too, but
these were expected to be blocked by Senate Democrats.
The Senate, on a separate track, was moving toward passing on Friday
a "clean" funding bill, through Sept. 30, that would drop the
House's contentious immigration restrictions.
But if all goes as planned, that measure would ultimately be
replaced on Friday with the three-week spending bill.
If the dispute is not resolved by Friday at midnight, spending
authority will be cut off for the agency that spearheads domestic
counterterrorism efforts and secures U.S. borders, airports and
coastal waters. The agency would be forced to furlough about 30,000
employees, or about 15 percent of its workforce. Nearly 200,000
workers, including airport and border security agents and Coast
Guard personnel would stay on the job, but would not be paid until
new funding is approved.
Senate Democrats have blocked debate on the House-passed bill four
times, and Obama has threatened to veto any bill that includes the
immigration restrictions.
A short-term funding extension would provide a temporary reprieve
for Republicans who have struggled to satisfy conservative demands
for a fight with Obama, while keeping open a key agency on the
frontlines of counterterrorism operations.
(Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Grant
McCool and Lisa Shumaker)
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